Care call: Clinton during his visit to Nagapattinam. (File picture)

Vedaranyam (Tamil Nadu), May 29: Mythology venerates this place, about 45 km south of Nagapattinam, for the “four Vedas worshipping Lord Shiva”, thus giving it its name, while history hails it for having witnessed a salt satyagraha on the lines of Gandhiji’s Dandi March during India’s freedom struggle.

But perhaps the thing that former US President Bill Clinton did not know during his recent visit to Nagapattinam was how 1,000-odd small salt manufacturers are in a quandary with the post-tsunami dynamics hitting them in the face.

The salt industry here employs nearly 10,000 people, with about 2,047 acres of salt-pans leased out to the salt manufacturers under an agreement with the Central Salt Department, headquartered in Jaipur since the days of British rule. Last December’s tsunami destroyed these salt-pans.

Most of the private land in Vedaranyam “is temple land”, which belongs to the Vedaraneeshwarar Temple here, overlooking the Bay of Bengal.

As the small salt manufacturers “are struggling to get back on their feet, commercial banks want collateral security to sanction loans. However, most of them do not have any security to offer as most of the land in Vedaranyam is temple land”, said A. Kediliappan, a member of the Central Salt Department’s regional advisory board who is also a representative of the salt manufacturers.

Therefore, the salt manufacturers, after assessing their funds requirement, have petitioned district collector J. Radhakrishnan that they would require a soft loan of Rs 10,000 per acre to rehabilitate salt-pans fully, he said.

They have also urged that the banks waive the collateral security norms and “lend up to Rs 50,000 without surety”. Present guidelines provide for banks giving security-free loans up to Rs 25,000, which is not enough to meet their needs.

At a recent meeting with the salt manufacturers, the bankers were unable to settle the issue, leaving it to the heads of the banks at the state level to take a decision.

“Bankers are still reluctant to advance loans sans surety, considering that small salt manufacturers have no security to offer,” said Kediliappan.

After the tsunami, not only the bunds and other earthwork had to be redone in the salt-pans, but they also had to be cleaned as the huge waves had brought in three to four inches of sand and silt.

“Cleaning up the salt-pans in the first stage itself takes Rs 20,000 per acre and in the second stage, the damaged machinery has to be repaired,” said Kediliappan, who is also the grandson of late freedom fighter Sardar Vedaratnam Pillai, an ardent follower of Gandhiji.